Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 08 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/166

154

met a Fox, and asked her:—

"Who taught you Foxes to deceive dogs with your tails?"

The Fox asked:—

"How do you mean deceive? We do not deceive the dogs, but merely run from them with all our might."

The man said:—

"No; you deceive them with your brushes. When the dogs chase you, and are about to seize you, you throw your brushes to one side; the dog makes a sharp turn after it, and then you dash off in another direction."

The Fox laughed, and said:—

"We do this, not to deceive the dogs, but we only do it so as to dodge; when the dogs chase us, and we see that we cannot run straight, we dodge to one side; and in order that we may dodge to that side, we have to fling our brushes to the other, just as you do the same thing with your hands when you try to turn round when you are running. This is not reason on our part. God Himself thought it out when He made us—for this reason, that the dogs might not catch all the foxes."